Kilograms to Liters

A kilogram does not become a liter on its own

A kilogram measures mass, a liter measures volume, and density is what converts one into the other. The heavier the substance, the less room the same kilogram takes: one kilogram of water is a liter, one kilogram of honey only 0.7 liters, and one kilogram of liquefied gas nearly 1.96.

Three steps

1. Find the density of the substance — in the table below. It is measured in kilograms per liter, the same number as grams per milliliter.
2. Divide the mass by the density. Five kilograms of gasoline is 5 ÷ 0.74 ≈ 6.76 liters — the division rarely comes out even, so the figure is rounded. Note that this is division, while converting liters to kilograms is multiplication.
3. Check the state of the material. For anything granular the answer is a range, and it runs the other way than on the weight page: a bucket-worth of 10 kg of sand takes 5–6.06 liters depending on packing — denser packing means less volume.

How much room one kilogram of each substance takes

Why the range is inverted here

On the liters to kilograms page dense packing gives the heavier answer: more material fits into the same bucket. Here it gives the smaller one: the same mass fits into less room. So the lower edge of the volume comes from the upper edge of the density, and the other way round. Both pages read the same density band — only the direction of the arithmetic differs.

Gas cylinders: volume of the liquid is not the size of the tank

For liquefied gas the number above is the volume of the liquid. A cylinder holding that much gas always has a larger capacity, because it is never filled to the brim: expanding vapour needs room above the liquid, so filling limits are set in mass rather than as a share of the volume. Take the common US 20 lb barbecue cylinder: 20 pounds is 17.8 liters of liquid propane, and the tank itself holds about 21 liters to the brim — the collar stamp «WC 47.6» is the water capacity in pounds, which is 21.6 kg of water and therefore 21.6 liters. Roughly four fifths full, in other words. This page answers how much room the liquid takes, not which tank to buy.

Where the densities come from

Every figure carries a citable source, and the rule for admission was written down before the data was collected: two independent sources or one standard. Food liquids come from the FAO/INFOODS density database, gasoline from GOST 32513-2023, diesel from GOST 32511-2013, liquefied petroleum gas from ISO 3993, coal from the IMSBC Code table, primer and motor oil from manufacturer data sheets. A spread wider than a tenth between sources means the substance is not published at all — which is why paint, cat litter and gravel are absent from the table.